New church opening in Batavia

BATAVIA – A new church is getting ready to open in Batavia.

River City Church will hold its first service at 9:30 a.m. Jan. 13 at the Batavia Fine Arts Centre, located on the Batavia High School campus at 1201 Main St. River City Church lead pastor Damian McCrink sees the church as being an extension of the community around it.

“We really wanted to start a church that partnered with the community at large,” McCrink said.

McCrink and his wife, Nancy, live in Batavia with their three children. The church in September helped with Batavia MainStreet’s Block Party in downtown Batavia.

“We want to be a community of volunteers that supports what the town is already doing,” he said.

River City Church is inviting members from the area’s nonprofit agencies to attend its first church service. McCrink said the purpose is two-fold.

“We want to support them, and we want to help people learn more about the agencies here,” he said.

McCrink and his wife have served as missionaries in Jamaica, Portugal and Mozambique. He recently served as the student pastor and local missions pastor at The Orchard Community in Aurora.

For the past few weeks, the church has been meeting at Water Street Studios in downtown Batavia. McCrink said the Batavia Fine Arts Centre will serve the church’s needs well.

“It’s beautiful and offers all of the latest technology,” he said. “Also, sometimes people can feel uncomfortable walking into a church. Batavia Fine Arts Centre is a community place. It breaks down those barriers that people have of going to church. We want to be a church where both the spiritual and skeptic is welcome.”